Monday, January 27, 2014

Original source : http://www.epicmoron.comPosted : January 2014Author : The admin

While restoring one of the exploration huts in Antarctica, Conservators of the New Zealand
Antarctic Heritage Trust discovered a box that turned out to be a remarkable treasure.
It contained 22 never-before-seen cellulose nitrate negatives documenting the
life of Antarctic explorers 100 years back. Preserved in a block of ice, these
negatives surprisingly lived up to our days to shine a light on the Antarctic
heroic era and the landscape itself.

After being frozen for a century, the negatives had to be
gently restored by firstly separating one from another, then cleaning, removing
the mold and consolidating the cellulose nitrate image layers. Only after this
painstaking process they were turned into digital positives.

As stated in the media release by the Trust, the box of
photographs was probably left in Captain Scott’s hut by Ernest Shackleton’s
1914-1917 Ross Sea Party, an expedition that was stranded after their ship
floated away to the sea during a massive blizzard. The group was finally
rescued but only after three men were already lost.